Tag Archives: sochi

The world chess championship 2014 is over. After his win in the 11th game world champion Magnus Carlsen tweeted:

@MagnusCarlsen:“A big thanks to everyone who supported me on this interesting journey. Two down, five to go.”

His opponenent also tweeted after the last game: @Vishy64TheKing: “As i sit down tonight there are many thoughts and one thought comes to mind. Last december I thought to myself You are not a quitter.”

and added: “And I can say I feel proud to have played in Sochi. I enjoyed the journey.Magnus played a better match. This is his moment. Congrats”.

An ex-world champion congratulated Carlsen: @Kasparov63: “Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for defending his world championship title, and doing it in style today with a great win!”

and added: “Magnus said “2 down, 5 to go,” referring to my 7 successful world championship matches. (6.5 really.) I wish him the best of luck!”

and added: “Now we just need Vishy to admit he was chatting to Kramnik on Skype every night :)”

More reactions from top players: via @chess24.com: “Aronian: “I’ve never seen a World Championship match with quality games. They’re over-prepared so they commit mistakes during the games”.

A statement by Hikaru Nakamura aka @GMHikaru: “Also to clarify about the WC match since everyone is going insane. I simply thought Carlsen’s quality wasn’t as dominant as last year.”

A future challenger tweeted: @fabianocaruana:“Congrats to Magnus on another big success! Unfortunately,I was traveling today and missed watching the decisive game.”

Talking about challengers: @elgransenor1:“What’s likely is that Carlsen’s next challenger will be someone even younger than he is. Caruana and Giri are both huge future threats.”

@TigerKatten:“I’m rooting for real candidates matches next time around, in order to find the most challenging opponent for Magnus.”

And a tweet by @SilvioDanailov:“Another black day for Makro&friends “FIDE” This is only the beginning”

Norway went nuts, of course. @TarjeiJS:“2,7 million Norwegians (half of the population) watched at least a minute of Carlsen-Anand on tv. That’s +16 % compared to 2013”

@palewire: “Norwegian news has system for readers to make Magnus Carlsen themed Xmas chess sweaters”

Closing ceremony

There was a closing ceremony on Tuesday. Why can’t the winner of the match get his medal and trophy after the last game? Is it really necessary to organize a 30-minute ceremony, two days after the last game?

@anandcarlsen14: “Medals awarded to the players by President Putin are made by FIDE/Agon and Adamas, Russia’s premier jewelry company”.

@kajasnare: “Putin making Carlsen wait … 30 min delay.“

@TarjeiJS:” I can imagine at least one person who is bored to death now. 34 minutes delay and counting”.

@MarkTwic:“I don’t know about other people but I’m kind of getting bored now”.

@dscaper: “Russia and FIDE still haven’t figured out the most important man in the room should be the World Champ, not the presenter.”

and added: “Magnus should get up and walk out – not there for Putin.”

After Putin arrived, the ceremony finally started: @makvikne: “Carlsen, Anand and Putin on the stage together; Inspiration for the next Chess musical?”

@ChrisBirdIA: “Carlsen gets a nice shiny gold medal, a big trophy and a Christmas wreath, just in time for the holidays”.

@Pookita: “I know it’s tradition but that wreath belongs on a door somewhere – or maybe on a horse that just won”.

Do we really want to look back at the shortest game of the match? I don’t think so: @ChessLive_es: tweeted “Decepcionantes tablas en la 9ª partida del mundialCarlsenAnand.“, and added this wonderful cartoon by Wadalupe:

@agostobrizuela:“I get the impression that Magnus Carlsen is out partying every night during this world championship match.”

One more tweet about the Berlin defence: @nigelshortchess: “When I become FIDE President, the first thing I will do is ban the Berlin”.

@harrypillsbury:“When I become FIDE chess president, I will reinstate the zonal system and the 24 game WCM every 3 years“.

Game 10 – the tweets

Let’s go to the game. What to expect? @ginger_gm: “Expecting some violence today after two rest days. Maybe we will see a Nimzo on the board!?”

@bennedik:“Game 10 prediction: Anand castles long against the Queen’s gambit line from game 8”.

Wrong guess! @vishalsareen: “This is it.. Grunfeld Qb3.This is the game we all wanted! Let’s see who is better prepared! This will be strictly homework”.

Lots of top grandmasters follow the game on Twitter: Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Erwin L’Ami and Paco Vallejo, to name just a few. Here a a few tweets about the opening:

@anishgiri:“Very peculiar choice by Magnus, I don’t know who can come up with the idea to play this line in the must-not-lose situation.”

@fabianocaruana:“The gloves are off”. @rajachess: “Well… Close to equality. But press by white!” @chessidharta: “Vishy pressing again . Magnus seems to have problems against 1.d4”.

@erwinlami: “One thing is clear; 1.d4 is virtually an ‘only move’ when you play a World Championship match.”

After the long game on Monday, it seemed that the chesstwitter community had enough of chess and twitter for a while. Obviously most followers had to go to bed or had dinner, and logged off, since the number of tweets after the game had finished was negligible.

@category5Moron: “7 hours and still no pompom show yesterday, nor a drinks break. They should introduce half-time in chess”.

@MarkTwic had a rough day at the office on Monday: “Did anyone grab the games from the Chinese rapid event this morning? Was so exhausted after yesterday couldn’t get up to do it.”

The editors at the Dutch service “Teletekst” must have been sleepy as well, when they compiled this page:

Spot the error! Dutchies @peterdoggers and @anishgiri tweeted: “Ask them why it’s so hard to correct this mistake (green text)”. “Told them days ago.”

As usual, a number of tweeters predicted the opening: @terendle: Will we see another new opening from Magnus today? I say no – perhaps a repeat of the QGD, but obviously a different line!

@GMJanGustafsson: “Random predictions: -1.d4 -Another Queens Indian -Draw”, followed up by: “Did I predict a Queens Indian? I meant to write Queens Gambit of course :)”

@garylanechess: “As I predicted a Queen’s Gambit. A safety first approach by Magnus.”

@nigelshortchess: “Looks like a typical condom variation from Magnus: to be used once and thrown away”.

@TarjeiJS:“Nigel Short is making headlines in Norway with the “condom opening” tweet.”

9….Re8. A new move? Let’s check twitterland:

@chess24.com: 9…Re8 and the jacket comes off!

GM Abhijeet Gupta aka @iam_abhjieet tweeted: “Inside news: Vishy does know about this Re8 move,Lets see how good his memory is”.

Talking about memory: this tweet gives me the opportunity to post a scan of a lovely ad I have in my archive:

He may need these pills to remember the games @GMJanGustafsson found with 9….Re8: “The greatest predecessors to play 9…Re8 are Janowski 1898, Marshall 1927 and Zviagintsev 2013. That counts as offbeat”.

@FabianoCaruana: “Surprised Carlsen is playing such a risky variation.No doubt he analysed it,but it’s hard to account for all White’s options”.

However, Magnus seemed to feel comfortable and went to sleep:

@pogonina: “Magnus shows his sharp interest in the position by falling asleep already (facepalming?)”

@anishgiri: “Magnus seems/acts hangover. Might not stop him from making an easy draw though”.

@joshfriedel:“Judging by the nap Carlsen is taking, it looks as if he still thinks he is playing a Berlin”.

@enthousiastchess: “♫ ♬ Wake me up when the endgame comes ♩ ♪ ♫ ♩”.

@wigum: “I’ve heard about walkover in some sports, but sleepover? Fantastic, I just love this man.”

@pookita:“The real Magnus is fully awake and calculating at the board in some other reality stream.”

@rajachess, aka world class grandmaster Teymur Rajabov: “World Champion has the right to sleep”.

Easy day at the office for the handful of journalists in Sochi?

After two hours of play @TarjeiJS tweeted: “This should soon be over. The journalists are already preparing for the press conference and a short day at work”

@Berlin_Endgame: “If I was Carlsen / Anand I’d play this on for another three hours just to annoy the muppets who whined yesterday.”

@vishalsareen: “Is this game one of the reason why the phrase ‘Damp Squib’ was construed the way it is?”

@nigelshortchess:“A very dull game. Anand was surprised and ducked the critical continuations at an early stage. Not fatal, but tempus fugit”.

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy won’t be too troubled by today’s game. He’s clearly in a better place than last year psychologically and knows he still has a chance.”

@GMRobinVK: “Magnus looked extremely tired today, incidentally he also has to take a doping test.. hm…”.

Does the doctor check if Vishy took some of the memory pills?

@sellig1947:“Magnus keeps mumbling during press conferences.Barely audible.Is he on drugs? We shall know very soon ;-)”

“Is the FIDE President subject to any doping tests, or indeed any assessment of his fitness for office?” asked @backranktristan

Rest day- not only the players need a day off:

@MarkTwic: “I can’t say I’m all that sorry there’s a short day today. Very long day yesterday with the game and TWIC magazine. Tense game ahead.”

There is a rest day on Wednesday: @reachsvara: “Ever since that Apple was bitten, “What will you do during Rest Day?” has ALWAYS puzzled mankind”.

Ellen Carlsen tweeted: @ellenoec: “Can’t complain about a draw with black, guess both players were quite exhausted after yesterday’s game.. And so are we ;)”

One final tweet for today: @ETFroggy:“These two chess players might be pretty good but they don’t have as cool a name as Levon Aronian”-

Before we going to have a look at the tweets of Game 6, let’s ask @TarjeiJS about the weather and the traffic in Sochi:

“Another beautiful day in Sochi”.

@ChessClassic: “Quite a contrast to Chennai. Or Moscow.”

TarjeiJS: “It’s like night and day”. @portisdos:“I thought it was a lost Russian estapa place like some journalist wrote.”

Let’s go to the tweets of game number six now, Any predictions, people?

@FuriousRoger: “Have a feeling Carlsen will play an unorthodox opening for the sake of it & get his fingers burned a la Aronian at Candidates”.

@GMJanGustafsson: “I am giving 3-1 odds on anything but 1.e4 today”.

@JLangstrand:“So far, I’ve been wrong with every prediction about Carlsen Anand. So I’ll just stop guessing and enjoy the match”

@Dizneyrascal64:“Get yourself a cup of tea and a blanket and settle in for 6 hours of chess”.

And the winner is….. @bennedik:“My prediction for today: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 and a different Anti-Sicilian.”

The opening – bad weekend choice

“The Kan! Big surprise (at least for me)“, tweeted @FabianoCaruana. @anishgiri: “Wow, Vishy goes for the Kan variation? That’s known to be a good choice in open tournaments against patzers. :)”

@bennedik:“I didn’t predict an open Sicilian, but I am very happily surprised.”

@Surewin_racing: “Why does Carlsen always go for the most boring lines possible? :(“

@GiddinsSteve:” Easy to criticise Vishy’s opening choice, but less easy to avoid boring position when Black v opponent who chops Q’s at every opportunity.”

@nigelshortchess:”The importance of openings is greatly overestimated by the public. However, not today. Vishy got a passive position very quickly.”

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy plays Kan without Caro, as far as I know, for the 1st time. It’s a favourite choice of mature players; solid & flexible.”

Not everybody was delighted about the opening choice, Hikaru Nakamura does not like mature players, obviously:

@GMHikaru:“Absolutely hate Anand’s opening choice today.”

@GMjtis: “This is not the way VA should be playing the Sicilian. This feels like a Chennai defence”.

@pogonina: “The only reason to employ this line for Anand is to send a message “I can hold even in YOUR type of positions”. Otherwise it’s strange…”

@rajachess: “Terrible choice by Anand today. Just worse,being worse on Saturday all day long is unpleasant,bad week-end choice”

Middle game

@iam_abhijeet“: This type of positions is exactly what one should avoid against Carlsen,It would be !? to see how MadrasTiger defends this one“. @chesscampeona: “Magnus must feel like a kid in a candy store right now”.@LaffenG : “Are you okay Mr Anand ? Looks like your cought with your pants down by Mr Carlsen”.

@FabianoCaruana: “Passive and unpleasant position for Anand – something went very wrong. Now we can settle down for a long grind”.

Any news from the commentators?

@chess24.com:“Sopiko returns to commentate alongside Peter Svidler”.

@polborta aka Peter Svidler: “In reply to the general clamour for Ali G to join the commentary – I agree wholeheartedly, he would be great. But he’s returning home today.”

How to comment the 26th move by Carlsen? Kd2? Engines go wild.

@MadsStostad: “Hvor var du da Anand brakk pila?”

@ChessMike: “Twittersphere blows up with Kd2; reacts against press for asking about it repeatedly. Biggest moment in either match needed several angles.”

@SergeyKarjakin:“When Magnus blundered with Kd2, I was in the playing hall, and wanted to scream NE5!!! It could have changed chess history I guess;-).”

@Kasparov63: Every time there is a bad blunder in a WCh game it’s called “the blunder of the century” but the stress & tension lead to mistakes.

@GMGawain: “Wow just saw the bizarre mutual blindness in Carlsen-Anand. Makes me feel slightly better about the standard of my last two games!”

@GMHikaru: “Anand moving much too fast. Such a shame.”

@ChessNinja: “No top player has made more hasty blunders in technical endgames than Anand. He gets bored, impatient; always been so”.

@Chessbase:” If there was any doubt whether they saw it, this picture of Anand breathing out deeply says it all.”

@Kasparov63:“Amazing double blunder in Carlsen Anand today. Blunders are not that unusual in world championship matches, but returning the favor is!”

@bennedik:“This game is like a bad dream. It would be very sad if it decides the match.”

@gregshahade: “Wow these Anand and Carlsen guys are huge n00bs”

@FabianoCaruana: “I imagine they’re both horrified with how they played today, but Magnus can console himself with a point closer to the title”.

@johnrhartmann:“After today’s double blunder, it appears that I actually _can_ play like both Carlsen and Anand”.

@chesscampeona: “If I feel so bad for Anand, I can only imagine what he feels. He needs a hug.”

@FabianoCaruana:“Shocking blunders… Vishy won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Post mortem

@reachvsara:“‘Vishy – can you describe being the loser of this game?’ What a brilliant question”.

@theclosetgm:“Seriously, are these real, trained journalists or just a bunch of chess groupies pretending to be journalists?”

There was a rest day on Thursday, but there was still a lot of chess going on in Sochi on Thursday and Friday: @chessblog: “Tal Memorial as two-day Superpowered Blitz in Sochi”.

One of the players had a busy schedule , particularly on Friday: Peter Svidler aka @polborta: “11 more rounds of blitz, and then back to the booth for G5 of Carlsen- Anand. I can definitely see the day ending in a stiff drink (or three)”.

@fstimjp: “11 rounds (of blitz) is quite tough to play.” Really?

One of his fans obviously had a drink or two: @harrypillsbury: “A beer, world championship game and Peter Svidler’s astute commentary. The most fun you can have with your clothes on!”

Who won the blitz? @ChessVibes has the answer: “Mamedyarov wins the prestigious Tal Memorial Blitz event and its $20,000 first prize. Grischuk got close, but ended second.”

@RobertRis: Not bad for two days working 😉 @MarkTwic: “Easier money than the Grand Prix!”

The final table, provided by @ChessVibes. Click to enlarge.

@fstimjp:“What happened to the good old days with 5 min, no increment, and an analogue clock, Insa or Garde?”

Game 5

Ready for game five? Just before the game started, Simon Williams aka @ginger_gm tweeted: “About to go live with Irina Krush in 5 minutes. Can’t wait for the action!”

Ahum, Simon, we are talking about chess, aren’t we? 😉

@ShekharGupta:“If u love any sport at all, go to Carlsen-Anand now! This incredible slugfest of mind more thrilling on Twitter than any live cricket on TV”.

@nigelshortchess: “We have gone about 10 minutes without someone calling me a “faggot” Good day so far”.

@anishgiri:“Early to say, but looks like Magnus did his homework this time. If Anand is unfamiliar with it, a quick draw is likely”. @GMRobinVK: “Not a very exciting game, but good preparation by Magnus. Maybe he’ll end up a tiny bit worse but this will be drawn”.

@chesscampeona: “I don’t want to “read” or “hear” the word draw so early in the game.”

@fstimjp:“Black is slightly awkward.” Any symbol for that?”

@GMHikaru: “Carlsen is worse, but he should draw relatively easily. I don’t understand the commentators at all.”

@anishgiri:“Wow, surprised, Anand doesn’t even try, though wasn’t all that much anyway, probably.”@FabianoCaruana : “Anticlimax” .

@Wish4Vishy: “Game 5 is a hurridly played Draw”.

@GMJtis:“So, decent day at the office for both. MC has shown good prep at last, VA got something anyway, but didn’t make much of it”.

A quick game, and a dull press conference, according to @closetgm: “I really have to switch off from this Carlsen – Anand press-con. What a dry uninteresting affair! “

The keywords today: dry, uninteresting, anticlimax: where do we put this game in tomorrow’s paper? @shawshankone has an idea:

“Jr Reporter: Sir the Carlsen-Anand game was fabulous

Sr R: Any fights?

JR: No

SR: Abuses?

JR: No

SR: Skirts?

JR: No

SR: Put it on last page”

Last tweet for today: @LennartOotes: “Jeez, literally did nothing work related today but staring at a computer screen. Really need a positive work attitude”.

@harikadronavali: “Rest day could be bliss for players, but boring day for spectators.”

Do you have a problem with rest days, @reachsvara? “Problem with Rest Days? ‘Armchair generals’ H.A.V.E to theorise, vomitting absurd ideas!”

@poisondpwnpress: “What on earth am I supposed to do for the next 14 hours? I need Carlsen – Anand in my life.”

Well, you can play a game yourself for a change, like the journos do in Sochi. There is nothing else to do in this ghost town.

@chessvibes:“Norwegian journalists in Sochi playing chess over the board or with @PlayMagnus. Yep, #chessfever”.

I found a nice tweet by @FabianoCaruana on the rest day: “I read that I’m “helping” Anand for the match. Good to know – I think neither of us were aware of that.”

India? Norway? No boundaries in the chess world! Kudos to these two tweeters:

@einargausel: “Mixed feelings about Carlsen – Anand. As a Norwegian I want to see Magnus do the bizz, but the middle-aged man in me is rooting for Vishy.”@gauravm333.”As an Indian I’m for Anand, but the 23-year-old self of me is for the Norwegian star.”

But now …. let us have a look at game 3. The tweets will do the talking….in 5 acts + encore.

Act 1: The opening

What do you expect, @garylanchess? “Looking forward to the game later and I expect 1. e4 this time and predict an exciting draw”.

Teymur Rajabov, aka@rajachess: “1.d4 and probably no Gruenfeld by Carlsen”. @reachvsara: “Magnus shifting to QGD as expected – being a point up, why play Grunfeld and why show blood to a shark!?”

@yelenadembo: “Time to check the old Steinitz games”.

@nigelshortchess:“I guess you all want some witty explanations about what is going on. I have no idea. Heavy theory, that’s all”. @anishgiri: “Same strategy from Magnus as in Chennai, a surprise in the first game and the ultra solid opening to follow…”. @yelenadembo: “By the fast replies of both sides, it is clear that they are nowhere near the end of their preparation”.

@fabianocaruana:”Everyone is saying this is a solid line for Black. But…. isn’t that a white pawn on c7?”

Act 2: Critical moves

@harichess: “Qa6 is such an easy move with engines running 😀 in my opinion 0-0 is more human”. @rajachess:“0-0 is not bad in general,is just bad compared to Qa6 I think!”

@chesscampeona: “Computer is a constant word I read in tweets during a “human” World Championship Chess match.”

@rajachess: “Carlsen’s time is ticking slowly for Indian fans,and extremely fast for fans of Carlsen”. @ChessIndiaNet: “20 minutes left for Carlsen to make 15 moves in a tough position .. and its going to get tougher with every move”. @dilipvanaman: “Its official Magnus is in time trouble ? Can he find the Houdini route ?” @ChessVibes:“Carlsen has 10 minutes left for 13 moves. He’s not in time trouble often. How will he deal with it, under this pressure?”

@Unudurti:“World championship games decided by time´trouble leave their scars on the players…and spectators too!”

Act 4: The end

@tejasvimohanram: “Veni Vidi Vishy! Game3 looks like in the bag”. @OlimpiuUrcan: “A gentle reminder to those who celebrate prematurely: “Remember, Remember, Twenty-First of November.” (Chennai, Game Nine)”. @EtienneGoud: “Anand is playing fantastic today. Note that the position after 28.Ra1! is close to zugzwang. Was very hard for Magnus not to blunder there.”

@nigelshortchess:” In a parallel with yesterday’s game, it looks like it will be decided by a blunder after sustained pressure”

(Screenshot by @DeepMikey, www-chess-tigers.de)

@Chess24.com: “Sopiko: “Judging by Magnus’ face he’s not happy” Peter: “There’s no reason to be happy…”

Talking about Sopiko: @SagTan:“Sopiko is so cute, I could sack 9 queens !”

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy wins! Powerful opening,precise calculation, good technique,excellent time management. He played,dare I say it, like a World Champion.”

@fabianocaruana: “Looks like Magnus forgot or mixed up his prep,because this was all widely known a year ago. Anand may make an early comeback”.

@Unudurti: “Magnus forgot that old Indian adage, when a tiger grows old, he turns into a man-eater”.

Act 5: Congratulations

@AnishGiri: “Vishy wins the third game of the match in Sochi. This is now a fact of Russian history too!” @humanlyAsshole: “I have never been as happy in recent time as i have been now. The Vishwanath Redemption”. @lladini: “I would love to see Vishy right now, when the door closes after him on the lift and he is finally alone”.

@JcKnight2: “The Tiger slayed Thor. The Tiger slayed Thor. To all haters, Anand is back so expect a fight. Vishy all the way.”

@reachvsara: “That sheer joy only an Indian can feel, how this brilliant & ambitious man has brought happiness with his feats”.

@gauravschandel: “Just when I thought Vishy is down and out, he comes with a bang. Best news I’ve heard all day!”

@karthikPMO: “Great show in Game 3, Vishy! You indeed brought “Anandam” to all your fans! Millions are praying for your success!”

@aravindganesh: “Carlsen- Anand is like that of Arjuna-Karna battle. Now don’t ask me who is Arjuna & who is Karna….

@jenshahade: “Adorable to watch Vishy try so hard not to smile. What a sportsman!”

Encore

@FSTIMJP: “To be fair, MC’s play over the board today would probably rank as among top five-ten worst in modern history of WC matches”.

@SilvioDanailov: “If Magnus Carlsen wants to enter in theoretical battles he needs much better seconds than @PHChess.Losing clearly the opening duel so far.”

@Cassiopee:“Although a big MC fan,delighted with today’s result, if only for the interest of the WC. He is but human after all!”

@ChessNinja: “Trivia Dept: In the last 5 world championship matches the winner of the 2nd decisive game won the title. 8 of last 9. Weird”

@bennedik noted: “Tripling on a file seems to be quite strong.”

@occupyc5: “Suddenly @TarjeiJS has to reset his ‘Anand hasn’t beated Magnus’ in 1000 years line :)”

The last tweet of the day is reserved for the world’s number 2 on the rating list:

@fabianocaruana: “Today was a must-win for Anand. He exposed Carlsen’s weakness, scored a crucial victory & brought intrigue back to the match”

Oh yes, we all had a good laugh at the opening ceremony on Friday, when unexpectedly the “Dallas” theme was played, the moment our great leader, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov entered the stage. @pookita suggested another song: “I think they should’ve gone back further – in line with the 60s theme – I Love Lucy theme?”

I think that the most appropiate walk-on song for the FIDE president is “Money, Money Money, by Abba.

Well, talking about walk-on songs. A year or so ago I wrote an article for a German chess magazine about the lessons chess can learn from other so-called fringe sports like snooker or darts, which attract much more coverage in the press than chess. Darts has developed from a pub sport to a very popular sport that attracts large crowds. Many innovations for the audience were made by a highly professional organisation, the PDC, Professional Darts Corporation. Everything the chess world is dreaming of (TV, large crowds, spectator friendly coverage), was put into effect in the darts world in a rather short period of time (20 years). Exactly, that is how long Kirsan is the president of FIDE….but didn’t he say something about going back to the sixties at the opening press conference? That is the future of chess for you!

One of the nice innovations in darts is the walk-on song, before the players enter the oche to play their match You create a “big-time” atmosphere by using a song, picked by the player.

Question to you, dear reader: which walk-on song could we pick for the players? I guess “Eye of the Tiger”, by Survivor is a good one for Anand, but I cannot really think of a good song for Carlsen. “Hammer to Fall”, by Queen?

Suggestions please! Send a tweet to @ChessClassic

Here is some inspiration:

Let’s go to game one then, shall we? Everybody excited?

Nice twitpic, provided by @Europe_Echecs. All we need is a tweet that goes with the picture: @akash_mihir: “Sad that I am the only one excited & no one around me had a clue whats happening.

Some prominent spectators and tweeters are around of course:

@anishgiri:“As a spectator, hope the White Tiger will go for the Champ’s throat in the first game already!”@garylanchess: “I am sticking with my prediction of Anand winning the first game within 44 moves.”

@FabianoCaruana: “The WC match may be an outdated format, but this is still THE chess event of the year”.

It is, but NOT of you organize a world championship in a ghost town like Sochi. How many spectators came today?

@ChessVibes: “Carlsen-Anand has started! Besides a few dozen FIDE officials, there’s only a handful of spectators.”

@OlimpiuUrcan:“FIDE loves to talk big numbers but the stray dogs in Sochi are likely to outnumber the number of visiting spectators to a world title match.”

How to follow the games? There are plenty of websites where you can follow the games, mostly with a strong chess engine. Some of the tweeters have useful advice for the spectators. Claudia Munoz aka @chesscampeona: “If you really want to grow during the match, don’t watch it with engine analysis. Write your analysis in a notebook.” And she added: “Everyone is a GM and a critic with chess engines, write down your own analysis and then compare it at the end of the game”.

However, not everybody seems to be interested in the game at all, as @TarjeiJS posted: “VG is speculating about Anand’s (lack of?) hair”.

@arjendoefke: “Does Anand wear a hairpiece?”

Comment by @rajkashana: “Norwegian tabloids have managed to sink to a level that is even below the Daily Mail”. @GMjtis: “Feel free to bombard #vgsjakk and tell them to stop the tasteless exercises in creative chess ‘coverage’.” @TarjeiJS: “I agree that was embarassing and unnecessary.”

Of course it was unnecessary, but admit it people: who did not giggle for a moment? I did.

Talking about coverage: the official commentators on the match website are GM Peter Svidler, @polborta and Sopiko Guramishvili @Sopiko20.

Twitpic provided by @Anna-Chess. And as expected, I found many tweets about the commentary, here are a few: @Eaviles94: “All I hear is Peter’s voice. It’s as if Sopiko is not even there.” @luimuilui: “Hi Peter, thank you for cutting short Sopiko, truely masterful.” @Chesscampeona: “I am not going to be shy about this, but I really really really like Peter Svidler’s deep voice”.

@anishgiri: “The female voice in the live broadcast strikes me as surprisingly familiar!!”. For the newbies: Sopiko is his girlfriend!

@fstimjp: “Hearing so many times Yeah even if from a friendly female voice is not helping listen to the live WC official commentary”.

Teymur Rajabov aka @rajachess:” I never had time to listen to @polborta press-conferences as we played same tournaments, but now we are not playing in the same tournament!” And he added: “And I am sure if Anand can’t outlast Magnus in the match,none of us can outlast Svidler at press-conferences :)”

And what did Svidler have to say? @polborta:“I will try to shut up and let @Sopiko20 talk, but since I honestly tried that today……. and quite obviously failed miserably, the results of this resolution are anyone’s guess.”

As you probably all know, the first game ended in a draw: @Unudurti: “Everything today: incisive opening prep, complex middlegame, and now a rich endgame. what is called a full “thali” meal :)” Or you can put it this way: @Dilipvanaman: “Vishy’s opening preparation – 75/100 marks, middle game – 50/100 marks, End game 25/100 marks”. @venkatachalamk1: “Round one drawwwwwww. Without draw, there is no charm in the game. Next round Anand is a black tiger or rather a black panther.”

Screenshot by @DeepMikey.

@DScaper: “Oops – @NastiaKarlovich must start to repeat the questions aloud if they can’t find an audience mike. The world is watching.”

What did the real experts think of the first game?

@jonathan_rowson: “Not too sure what to make of today’s game. Vishy was basically outplayed, but gained a morale boost from not collapsing”. @rajachess: It is a very good sign for Anand that he kept this position,he lost equal endgames in previous match,which decided the match”. @nigelshortchess: “Carlsen played very well today, but Vishy showed balls and did not succumb to pressure.”

@OlimpiuUrcan:“ Anand stepped into the ring swinging. He dodged a knockout, retreated to his corner smiling, with one tooth missing: “At least I got balls.”

So what is next, @chesscampeona? “The good news for Anand is that he got a draw in round 1, the bad news for Anand is that now Magnus will have white in game 2”.

@anishgiri:Noticed that Magnus might have missed a serious win. chance with 42….Re3! (idea 43.Rd7+ Kh6 44.Rxb7 Rb3!). To be analysed.

The world championship 2014 between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand kicked off on 7 November with an opening press conference, the drawing of lots and the opening ceremony.

Let’s hope that the match will be of a significantly higer level than the events that happened on the first day. Dear oh dear, the way FIDE presented its premium product today, the world chess championship match, was embarrasing.

What happened?

The opening press conference:

Twitpic by @anandcarlsen14: “Journalists waiting for the start of the press conference”.

On the far left we discover Hans-Walter Schmitt, Anand’s neighbour in Bad Soden, Germany. In a month he will start his new job as Santa Claus.

Nice opening statement by the FIDE president, spotted by @PoisondPwnpress: “We want to recreate the feel of chess in the 60s” So, steeped in the Cold War. At least they are honest!

Talking about the Cold War:

@mikhail_golubev: “Pity that no other place for the world chess match was found than Russia, an international aggressor and terrorist’s supporter”, and added: “Just wondering whether there is any place on the Earth where the top chess players would not agree to play for a good money..”

What happened during the press conference? Nothing really exciting, I am afraid:

@gmjtis: “Someone should ask a unifying question, like which Monty Python sketch is their favorite. Or test if they know them verbatim.”

@unudurti sums up the only thing you need to know about the press conference in one tweet: “Only point of interest in the presscon (unless u r into sets made out of mammoth tusks) “A-Team” entrant Grzegorz Gajewski”.

Well there was another highlight, spotted by @geoffreyborg:“Family Carlsen in support”

Ok, one more quote, picked up by @chess24.com:“Anand asked what his wife is for him: “She’s a kind of wife” :)”

Next up: the opening ceremony and drawing of lots, with some awesome opening music:

@DScaper: “Magnus and Vishy walk to the stage to the Dallas theme – I think Vishy is now wearing cowboy boots”.

@telegraphchess:“It was Dallas that Kirsan took the stage to – Unless my ears playing more tricks the translator is trying to suppress hysterical laughter”.

@dalkegeetz:“Happy for any explanation why the president of FIDE walks on WCC’s opening ceremony stage to the theme song from Dallas”.

@dalkegeetz: “When FIDE finds out this opening ceremony rehearsal was live streamed to the web someone’s gonna get canned”.

@Dscaper: “Whole FIDE opening cerem’ is a laughing stock. The only music they had was an 80’s Film & TV Themes CD.”

@Chessbase:“They used the theme from “Dallas” when Kirsan came on stage. A tribute to JR, or the sponsor Gazprom?”

@pookita: “Well, if you’ve ever been to Texas, you’ll recognize it as full of aliens.”

But there was more music: Picture by @surovlive:

@Salimhafezi:”Magnus Carlsen seems bored with all that music. Do you think its compulsory to attend for the players?”

@chesscampeona:“ How weird. In the opening ceremony they just said they don’t know who invented chess. I thought Kirsan knew that….”

@GMJtis:“Boil a few vegetables and when you come back the ceremony’s been and done”.

@Dscaper: “Now the opening ceremony is a disco – Magnus looks like someone has run off with his missus.” and added: “Boris Spassky has just left. Thing about ex-World Champs, you can get out of awkward situations without excuses.”

Finally, the most important part of the opening ceremony, the drawing of colours. Picture by @europeechecs.

@MarkTwic: “I’m not sure who has white in game 1 is all that significant but how precisely with a magician do you know the draw was fair?” and @pookita answered: “That poor dove that got spray painted black! PETA would not be happy about that ;)”

@bennedik: “Prediction for game one with Anand playing White: 1.d4, because a)The Berlin b) All of his seconds are 1.d4 players.”

@pogonina: “Who will be the 1st to score? In 53 out of 67 top level chess matches the 1st player to win a game prevailed in the entire match -GM Krogius”

Last tweet for today:

@PoisondPwnpress: “Nothing like some dubstep to get ready for a chess match”